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Monday, January 26, 2015

It has been over a month since my last post about the Perry family. While I am not going to share all that I found on each family here, I am willing to share with anyone that has an interest. You can contact me using the "Email me" link on the main page. I will say that I feel a little disappointed with what I found, or should I say, what I did not find.

While I knew it was a long shot, I had hoped that as I researched down through the generations, I would eventually find Ganus and Perry families living near each other or some evidence of a close relationship. In my family we have three generations of family members using the name Perry as a first or middle name and the story is that years ago there was family of significance with that name.

Therefore I was excited when I discovered that my second great grandmother's sister had a child who married into a Perry family. However, it does not appear that the descendants of my second great grandmother, Olivia (Rainwater) Ganus and her sister Frances (Rainwater) Bailey, ever lived close to each other even though Olivia and Frances chose to live close to one another during much of their married lives in both Alabama and Georgia. One of Frances' daughters married a Perry and they eventually migrated to Oklahoma, as did Olivia's children, however the Ganus family was generally in the Oklmulgee County area of Oklahoma and the Perry family ended up in the Comanche County area, a distance of nearly 200 miles.

Map: Federal Census Bureau Map

On the maternal side of my family, my Grandma Hostetter provided a glimpse into the relationship between her family and her mother's sister's family in her journal. She documented a trip her family took from their home in Colorado to an aunt's home in Utah. Although the two families never lived in close proximity to each other, her journal entries helped establish the fact the two families remained in contact. Unfortunately, to my knowledge, no journal or any letters exchanged between family members exist for either the Ganus or Perry family and there seems to be nothing to suggest that the descendants of the two families were aware of each other, at least certainly nothing that warranted the naming of children after the other. If anyone has evidence to the contrary, I would love to hear from you.

Mary Ann Ayers Perry, along with her children
Courtesy of descendant, David

A descendant of Mollie's shared the above picture with me. He regretted that the photo is in such poor condition, but it is exactly as he received it. It is always icing on the cake to have a picture. I am thrilled that the photo exists and that he generously shared the photo with me and allowed me to in turn share it with you. Thank you David!

Wednesday, January 21, 2015

It's Wednesday following the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy 2015 and I finally have a few minutes to share my experience. SLIG was a fun yet intense week of studying many aspects of the law with Judy Russell, The Legal Genealogist, and Rick Sayre. I have long wanted to take a class that would help me understand how the law affected my ancestors' lives and that would teach me how to find those particular laws, so I was excited to take the course The Family History Law Library.

Rick Sayre and Judy Russell

As January arrived, I began to worry. Would I understand what was taught? Would I be able to keep up? Would I retain what I learned so that I could use it? Would there be a lot of homework and would I be able to do the homework?

Well leave it to Judy and Rick to ensure that yes, we would understand what was taught and yes, we would keep up
(most of the time anyway). The class was fun and engaging as we learned many of the ways the law impacted our ancestors' lives. And of course we also learned where to find those laws as well.

With the help of an excellent syllabus and scads of documents in our Google Drive, Judy and Rick made sure we would have the needed resources to help us as we review what we learned and continue in our quest to better understand the law.

And yes, there was homework. It challenged me and made me think, even though my brain rebelled and did its best to convince me that the homework was too hard and that I was much too tired.

Among other things, we covered state courts, Federal courts, legislative and executive records, state property law, the Serial Set, immigration and naturalization. We learned about civil law, common law, family law, probate law and military law. We learned about Irish law, German law and then about French law as we delved into Louisiana. It was fabulous and exhausting all wrapped up into one wonderful week.

It made me realize how many of the difficult to understand situations in my ancestor's lives are woven in and around the law and I am anxious to dive in and see if applying what I learned can help me to at least understand my ancestors a little better but also hopefully take me a step further in solving some of my never ending genealogical mysteries.

Friday, January 9, 2015

I have had a lot of personal demands these past couple of weeks and will be attending the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy this coming week. Rest assured, I have more stories to tell and will be back at it as soon as I can!

Saturday, January 3, 2015

Christmas is over and I've put away the last of the decorations. As I welcome in the new year, I find myself reflecting back on this past year. There have been both challenges and good things in 2014.

Last year I took advantage of many opportunities to expand my knowledge in genealogy. In January I kicked off the year by attendingthe Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy’s course “Southern Research,” with J. Mark Lowe.In February I attended Rootstech and thoroughly enjoyed every aspect of what is touted as the largest genealogy conference.

Definitely one of the highlights of my year was the trip my
husband and I took in May to Richmond, Virginia to attend the National Genealogy Society's Convention where I took many wonderful classes and met new friends.

This year more than in the past I stepped out of my comfort zone and did things I may not have done in the past and it has been wonderful! It's been a good lesson to me that risk brings with it growth, new experiences and new friends.

I've also learned a lot about my own family history in the process of writing the posts for this blog. Below are the top visited posts for 2014.

TOP 10 POSTS FOR 2014

1.From Murder Scene to Picnic Spot . As I looked at a horrific incident in an ancestor’s
life, I was surprised to learn what this site looks like today and how it is
used.

2.Walking theSunken Road.My trip to
Virginia allowed me to visit many Civil War sites. Here I share my experience as I walked on the site where an ancestor had fought.

3. For the Love of Tula. Thanks to several photos
in my grandma’s little suitcase, I decided to step into Tula’s world where I
learned about my great grandmother’s little sister.

4.Tula’s First Child’s Casket. These simple words on the back of the photo compelled me to take time to find the story and learn which of Tula's children lay within.

5. More Than A Number.As I visited an unmarked grave in Richmond’s Hollywood Cemetery,I was taken by the fact that this ancestor's entire life was represented by a simple number, when his life was so much more.

6. Ernest’s Final Return to Oklahoma. This post tells the story of Ernest Ganus who, after leaving Oklahoma several times to seek work and life in other states, made his final return home.

7.A Little Bit of Heaven. This post was inspired by a picture of my grandpa and his brother on a small raft in the middle of a pond.

9.He Never Came Home. This tells the story of Reuben Ayers and what came of his family following the Civil War.

10.Will Our Children Need Paleography? This post was inspired by the realization that many of today's school children do not learn to read or write cursive. Will they be able to read anything I leave behind?

Here's looking towards 2015 with hopes for many more good things to come!

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About Me

I have been actively researching for over 25 years primarily in the areas of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Oklahoma, Texas and even the southern portion of Colorado. When my nose isn’t in a quarterly or other genealogy book or publication, I am researching or attending a genealogy conference, institute, online class or webinar. I obtained a bachelor’s degree from BYU and I earned a certificate in genealogical research from the National Institute for Genealogical Studies. I'm a member of numerous genealogical societies including the National Genealogical Society, Georgia Genealogical Society, North Carolina Genealogical Society and Carroll County Georgia Genealogical Society.
Questions or comments? You can contact me at shelltag1 at gmail dot com.